Lidar makers are in the midst of a funding growth spurt. Growth Capital Acquisition Corp. last week announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, declared effective its Form S-4 registration statement. The statement includes a definitive proxy statement in connection with a special shareholder meeting to consider a proposed business combination with lidar provider Cepton Technologies Inc.
Founded in 2010, Growth Capital Acquisition Corp. (GCAC) is a special-purpose acquistion company (SPAC) led by Akis Tsirigakis and George Syllantavos, co-CEOs. The New York-based firm will hold the special meeting at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Feb. 9, 2022.
Founded in 2016, Cepton said its leadership includes industry veterans with decades of collective experience across a wide range of advanced lidar and imaging technologies. The San Jose, Calif.-based company said it is focused on the mass-market commercialization of high-performance, high-quality lidar systems.
Cepton has a business-development facility in Troy, Mich., to provide local support to the numerous OEMs and Tier 1 automotive suppliers in the Detroit area. It also has a presence in Germany, Canada, Japan, India, and China.
Cepton aims to 'take lidar mainstream'
Cepton Technologies has developed lidar for advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS), autonomous vehicles, smart cities, smart spaces, and intelligent industrial applications.
The company said its patented Micro Motion Technology is intended to “take lidar mainstream and achieve a balanced approach to performance, cost, and reliability while enabling scalable and intelligent 3D perception solutions across industries.”
Cepton claimed that it has received the largest known ADAS lidar series production award in the industry to date, based on the number of vehicle models awarded. It said it is sole-sourced by General Motors and is engaged with other Top 10 OEMs.
Lidar makers seek SPAC combos
On Aug. 4, 2021, Cepton, GCAC, and GCAC Merger Sub Inc., a Delaware corporation and a wholly owned subsidiary of GCAC, entered into a business combination agreement, as amended on Jan. 21, 2022.
Following the closing of the business combination, the combined company’s common stock and warrants are expected to list on Nasdaq under the ticker symbols “CPTN” and “CPTNW,” respectively.
Other lidar sensor companies involved in recent SPAC transactions include Aeva Technologies, Arbe Robotics, AEye, Innoviz, Luminar Technologies, Ouster, Quanergy, and Velodyne Lidar. In the race to autonomous vehicles, such deals provide an injection of capital with the expectation of high valuations being validated by automaker demand.
The definitive proxy statement and other relevant documents were mailed to Growth Capital’s stockholders of record as of the close of business on or about Jan. 25, 2022.
Growth Capital has engaged Advantage Proxy Inc. as its proxy solicitor in connection with the special meeting. Stockholders who need additional copies of proxy materials, need to obtain proxy cards, or have questions regarding the proposals can contact Advantage Proxy toll-free at (877) 870-8565 (individuals) or collect (206) 870-8565 (banks and brokers), or they may send an e-mail to [email protected]. To obtain timely delivery of documents, stockholders must request them no later than Feb. 3.
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